Labeling device



J. WEISS LABELING DEVICE Sept. 16,1940.

Filed 001;. 16, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet l Sept. 10, 1940. J WEISS 23141196LABELING DEVI CE Filed Oct. 16, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor jam rm;

Sept. 10, 1940. WEISS 7 2,214,096

' LABELLNG DEVICE Filed 001;. 16, 1935 4 Shet-Sheet 3 llo c 0&0 0R0 0110010 ojlo 0110 OllO/O In ven l0! A Attorney Sept. '10, 1940. J ig2.214,096

LABELING DEVICE Filed Oct. 16, (1936 4 sheets-sheet 4 Q H 5 I i III/I147 Invenfof fig... 2 6

' Attorney Patented Sept. 10, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEApplication October 16, 1936, Serial No. 105,978

' I Germany October 23, 1935 2 Claims.

My invention relates to labeling round or cylindrical bodies such asbottles.

In machines for this P pose it is known to use label carriers" which areprovided with ,5 gluing members or strips and to move the label carriersor feeders successively in a circular path past a gluing device whichdresses the gluing members with glue and pasta label case from which alabel is drawn, and then to move the label in carrier to the labelingpoint.

This known arrangement has the disadvantage that the label is not alwayssatisfactorily glued,

. because for instance very strong labels do not get into contact withthe gluing strip on their 15 whole surface. Also, the glue sometimes hassuch a consistence that the bulk of the glue stays at the gluing stripsso that even .in the case of the label resting fully on the strips it isonly partly glued.- Another disadvantage of the known de- 20 vicesconsists in the fact that if for any reason a gapoccu'rs in the bottlesbeing fed to the labeling place, while thelabel carrier can be preventedfrom picking up a label, the gluing strips cannot be prevented frombeing dressed with glue. If

several bottles fall ofi successively, the deposit of glue on the gluingstrips becomes so thick that a label which is put on the strips when thenormal working order sets in again, gets an excessive amount of glue sothat the bottle issmeared.

The present invention relates to a labeling device for cylindricalbodies such as bottles which are continuously moved in a straight linein upright position, in which the label carrier is also. rotated in acircular path around a vertical axis 35 and. is moved past a label pileand a gluing device. However, an important distinction from the knownmachines of this kind resides in the fact that the label carrier orfeeder is not provided with gluing strips but possesses'faces forreceiv- 40 ing the label which are always dry, the label being picked upfrom the label'pile in dry condition by means of grippers, suctionnozzles or other means; the label carrier is then moved past a gluingroller or cylinder which according to the invention rotates around avertical axis, rolls over the labeland causes a. satisfactory gluing ofthe label. The transfer of the glued label to the cylindrical body isthen efiected in known manner. My invention will be better understoodfrom the following detailed description in connection with theaccompanying drawings showing schematically andby way of example oneembodiment 55 of the invention, viz:

devices for Fig. 1 is a plan view of the device in one working position;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same device in another working position;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view partly in section of the cylinder and thedevices that operate it;

Fig. 4 is an elevation showing the counterholdingstrip and associatedmechanism Fig. 5 is a detailed perspective viewof the bottleoperatedcontrol mechanism. 1

Referring now to the drawings, l is a vertical cylinder which rotatesaround the axis 2 and bears at its circumference for example five labelcarriers 3. The distance between the single label carriers is'the sameas that between the bottles 5 whichstand on the continuously movingconveyor belt or device 4. The conveyor belt 4 and the circumference ofthe cylinder I have the same travelling speed. Besidethecylinder I is alabel case or magazine 6 which can be moved in radial 6 directiontowards the cylinder I so that it is possible to move it tightly to alabel carrier 3 if required, as-shown in Fig. 1, or keep it at a certaindistance from the label carrier, as indicated in Fig. '2. Behind thelabel case in the moving direction of the cylinder l is the gluecontainer 1 which is also movable in radial direction with the gluingcylinder 9 which rotates continuously around its vertical axle 8. Thelabel carriers .3 are provided with means for picking upf the dry'labelsfrom the label pile, in the manner known per se. This picking up may beeffected for instance in such manner that the faces of the labelcarriers 3 are provided with bores which are connected'to a suction orvacuum pipe. This pipe is controlled in the manner known per se in sucha way that the suction effect is started when the label carrierapproaches the label pile, and ceases as the label carrier comes intocontact with the bottle 5 and transfers I 40 the label to it.

The cam 21 actuates the piston of an air pump 28 which is connected by atube 29 with the hollow shaft or pipe! which is stationary. The carriers3 for the labels and the sleeve carrying the member I are provided withair holes which are alternately covered'so that the passage of air ispartly interrupted while'the label is being transferred to the bottle onthe conveyor. Instead of sucking devices I may alsov use grippers of thekind used in printing machines which in 'myldevice'work in such mannerthat they grip the dry label at one edge thereof, and

. hold it until it is transferred to the bottle.

During the transfer of the label from the label carrier to the bottlepressure is exerted. to the latter in the direction perpendicularly tothe longitudinal axis of the conveyor belt 4 or in radial direction ofthe cylinder I. In order to prevent the bottle from being displacedthereby, I provide a counterholding strip Ill at the opposite side ofthe bottle conveyor belt which is guided to carry out a straight to andfrom movement parallel to the conveyor belt 4. In the moment when alabel is transferred to the bottle, the strip l0 follows the movement ofthe continuously moved conveyor belt. Accordingly there is no relativemovement between the strip l0 and the bottle 5 and thus no rotation ofthe latter will be caused. When the pressure is no more exerted to thebottle, the strip l0 moves back to its initial position. The same resultis obtained according to Fig. 2 by arranging an endless belt H parallelto the conveyor belt 4 and moving with the same travelling speed as thebelt 4. The belt ll runs over vertical rollers I2 and is equipped withbottle holders l3 by which the accurate spacing of the bottles on thebelt 4 is ensured.

Now, if for any reason a gap results in the row of bottles which arecontinuously moved to the labeling place with a uniform spacing,according to the invention no label will be picked up from the labelpile and the gluing cylinder 9 will not come into contact with the labelcarrier.

This is effected by means of a device which coacts with a feeling memberarranged at the bottle conveyor belt in such manner that the label caseand the gluing device cannot touch the label carrier when a bottle fallsofi. One embodiment of such a device has been shown in the drawings byway of example.

Near the bottle conveyor belt 4 is a feeling lever 15 which is pivotallymounted at I4 and under action of a spring which is not shown in thedrawings tends to move in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 1 andso to get into the position shown in Fig. 2. Rigidly connected to thisfeeling lever I5 is a lever l6 which in turn by a rod I1 is coupled to alever having two arms I8, l9 and being pivotally mounted at 20; the arml9 bears a barbed or ratchet hook 2| which engages with the stop 22 ifthe feeling lever l5 takes up the position as per Fig. 2, i. e., if abottle has fallen off. The hook 2! then makes it impossible for thelabel case to move towards the label carrier. On the stop 22 res'tsmoreover an arm 24 which is pivotally mounted at 23, under action of aspring which is not shown in the .drawings. This arm 24 is rigidlyconnected with another arm 25 which is bent at right angles at one end.This arm in 'case of the blocked position of the hook 2| engages with astop 26 of the glue container :1, and thereby makes it impossible forthe glue container 1 to move towards the label carrier if the latter hasnot picked up a label from the label case. Accordingly it is renderedimpossible for the glue cylinder 8 to deposit glue directly on the labelcarrier.

When transferring the glued label to it is only temporarily aflixedthereto and devices of known construction have to be provided behind thelabeling place for pressing the label tight on the bottle. Such a devicefor pressing on the label is schematically shown at 21 in Fig. 1.

I claim:

1. A labeling machine for bottles, said bottles being disposed inupright position at intervals upon a conveyor band continuously movingrectilinearly comprising a continuously rotating drum disposed adjacentthe conveyor, said drum being mounted on a vertical axis, a plurality offacets on the periphery of said drum constituting label carriers, saidlabel carriers adapted to contact with the passing bottles, a boxcontaining labels disposed adjacent said rotating drum, means fortransferring the labels from the label box, a gluing roller adjacent therotating drum, the labels on the drum contacting said gluing roll-er toreceive a coat of glue, the bottle on the travelling conveyor removingthe glued label from the drum, a pusher for subsequently pressing thelabel onto the bottle in the continued movement of the conveyor.

2. A labeling machine for bottles, the bottles being disposed atintervals in upright position on a band conveyor continuously travellingin a straight line, comprising in combination a continuously rotatingdrum disposed adjacent the conveyor band, said drum being mounted on avertical axis, a plurality of raised facets on the periphery of saiddrum constituting label carriers, a label magazine mounted adjacent saiddrum, said label magazine being movable to and from'the continuouslyrotating drum, means for transferring dry labels from the magazine tothe facets of the drum, a gluing roller also mounted adjacent said drumin advance of the label magazine relatively to the rotation of the drum,the dry labels carried by the facets of the drum pass- ";rg said gluingroller to receive a coat of glue, the facets on the drum being disposedat intervals to synchronise with the spacing of the bottles on theconveyor, the glued labels carried by the drum contacting with thebottles on the band, said glued labels being applied to the bottles, andmeans for supporting the bottles on the conveyor band against ,lateralpressure, the labels on the bottles being subsequently pressed thereonby a plunger.

- JOHQNN WEISS.'

the bottle

